Macbeth (2006)

When mounting a production of Shakespeare, it's all about choices. Because his work is free of most stage directions and character descriptions, a director has almost complete freedom. You can set it in a different time and place, cut characters and lines, or even add lines (which is ballsy, but has been done). The choices made in Geoffrey Wright's 2006 film of Macbeth are mostly regrettable ones, although I did like a few things.

The film was shot, and is set, in Australia in modern times. Macbeth (Sam Worthington) is a soldier in Duncan's organized crime mob, but the rest of the plot is the same. As with other productions I've seen, the beginning of the film has Lady Macbeth (Victoria Hill) mourning the death of a son--the pair are in a graveyard. Also in the graveyard are three schoolgirls, who happen to be witches (they desecrate some of the monuments).

Much is cut in this production, which keeps it moving quickly, although there are stretches where there is no dialogue and just shooting (the end of the film is a long shootout that is badly shot and edited). Large chunks of the play are missing, such as the porter, which makes sense, but also the scene between Macbeth and the murderers of Banquo--I also found this sensible, as that scene isn't really central to the plot. The scene between Macduff and Malcolm, in which they team to take on Macbeth, is also cut way down. Donalbain, Malcolm's brother, is cut completely, as Malcolm is given a wife instead.

Some stuff is added, such as Macbeth killing Duncan on screen (I liked the bit where Duncan awakes and realizes Macbeth is about to kill him--there's a little "Et tu, Brute?" moment there). Also, the "tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" speech is moved to the end of the film, a voiceover as we look at the dead bodies of the Macbeths (he is not beheaded). That's fine, but why cut the last two line of the speech, "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing?"

Over all this is not a good film, as Wright doesn't seem to have a compelling reason to have made it. Hill is the co-writer and producer, so perhaps she just wanted to play Lady Macbeth. She is pretty good, and continues the tradition of Francesca Annis by doing her sleepwalking scene in the nude. The nudity is amplified in Macbeth's prophecy scene with the witches, which is orgiastic. Worthington is a bit of a stiff, with a ridiculous haircut.

With modern-dress productions, it's always interesting to see how they go about getting Birnam Wood to Dunsinane--this time it's a truck full of logs.

Of the Macbeth films I've seen, this one is the worst.